. >> sreenivasan: chuck hagel was sworn in today as the new secretary of defense, with federal budget cuts topping his agenda. the former republican senator from nebraska addressed pentagon employees who will have to manage some $46 billion in reductions starting friday. >> we need to figure this out. you are doing that. you have been doing that. we need to deal with this reality. we've got ahead of us a lot of challenges. they are going to define much of who we are, not this institution only but our country. >> sreenivasan: hagel won senate confirmation yesterday, despite the opposition of most of his fellow republicans. he succeeds leon panetta, who had served in the top pentagon job since july of 2011. white house officials conceded today it's unlikely the government will avoid those looming, automatic budget cuts. a spokesman said president obama will meet friday with congressional leaders, but there was no indication that any deal is in the works. tomorrow, senate democrats will try to bring up a stop-gap bill to delay the cuts, but republicans could block the measure. at the vat